Lack of sleep unlikely to impact weight over time

Regularly getting five hours or less of shut eye a night does
not appear to have a considerable influence on body weight or waist
size over time, according to findings from a long-term study of
British workers.

While some past research has identified a relationship between
obesity and a lack of sleep, this research could not affirm which
came first - the lack of sleep or the weight problem.

To clarify whether lack of sleep over time might be related to
obesity, Francesco Cappuccio and colleagues analysed information
from more than 10,000 white-collar British civil servants
participating in a long-term forward-looking study called the
Whitehall II study.

The men and women were first had their health assessed between
1985 and 1988 when they were between 35 and 55 years old.

They were subsequently assessed every two years thereafter.

Cappuccio, of the University of Warwick Medical School, in
Coventry, England, and colleagues analysed nightly sleep duration
and indicators of obesity among 5021 of the study participants
during the 1997 to 1999 assessment.

In this assessment, the investigators identified a 65 per cent
increased risk of obesity among people sleeping less than five
hours a night compared with those sleeping seven hours nightly.

But when they looked at measures of body weight and waist
circumference again between 2003 and 2004 among 3786 of these men
and women who were not obese during the earlier assessment, they
found no significant association between sleep duration and future
changes in body weight or waist circumference.

Taken together, these findings suggest that short duration of
sleep might represent a risk marker as opposed to a causative
factor for obesity, the researchers conclude in the American
Journal of Epidemiology.

1203788130773-smh.com.auhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/health/lack-of-sleep-unlikely-to-impact-weight-over-time/2008/02/24/1203788130773.htmlsmh.com.auReuters2008-02-25Lack of sleep unlikely to impact weight over timeSpecialsSpecialsHealth